Practice Areas

Import Requirements for Kiwi from Chile Would be Eased Under USDA Proposal

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg Trade Report

The Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is accepting through Dec. 15 comments on a proposal to allow imports of kiwi fruit from Chile subject to a systems approach that includes the following elements.

- the fruit would have to be grown in a place of production that is registered with the national plant protection organization of Chile and certified as having a low prevalence of the Mediterranean fruit fly (Brevipalpus chilensis)

- the fruit would have to undergo pre-harvest sampling at the registered production site

- once harvested, the fruit would have to be placed in field cartons or containers marked to allow for traceback to the production site

- following post-harvest processing, the fruit would have to be inspected in Chile at an APHIS-approved inspection site under the direction of APHIS inspectors in coordination with the NPPO of Chile

- each consignment of fruit would have to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate with an additional declaration stating that the fruit had been found free of Medfly based on field and packinghouse inspections

Kiwi from Chile may currently be entered into the U.S. subject to inspection in Chile or treatment with methyl bromide, while baby kiwi from Chile are authorized for importation into the continental U.S. under a systems approach. This proposal would make kiwi eligible for importation under the same systems approach as baby kiwi.